“It’s me,” he ground out.
“Kasimir,” his brother replied in a low voice. “About time.”
Vladimir didn’t sound surprised to hear from him. Strange. And stranger still that after ten years of silence, it seemed as if no time had passed between them. He sounded exactly the same.
“You might as well know, I tried to blackmail Bree,” he said abruptly, “into signing your company over to me.”
“She already told me,” Vladimir replied. “Your plan to turn us against each other didn’t work.”
Kasimir stopped. “You already know? So what do you intend to do?”
“I am willing to make the trade.”
He sucked in his breath. “You’re willing to give up your billion-dollar company? For the sake of a woman who once lied to you?” His jaw hardened. Vladimir must really love Bree. “Too bad. I’ve changed my mind. I no longer have any intention of divorcing Josie, for any price. You can keep your stupid company. In fact… there’s no reason for us ever to talk. Ever again.”
“Kasimir, don’t be a fool,” his brother said tersely. “You can still—”
Kasimir turned his head as he heard Josie coming in from the snowy garden. He hung up, dropping his phone into his pocket.
“Why did you run off like that?” She was laughing, wearing a white hooded coat, halfcovered with snow. “We’re not even done. The poor snowman only has one eye.” Puppy-like, she tried to shake the snowflakes off her coat. Her eyes sparkled like a million bright winter days, and the sound of her laughter was like music. “Ah,” she sighed. “I’ve missed winter!”
He’d never seen anything, or anyone, so beautiful. As he looked at her, his heart twisted with infinite longing.
And he realized: he loved her.
His eyes narrowed, and he knew he wouldn’t let anyone take Josie away from him. He’d keep her. At any cost.
“I have something to tell you,” he said softly. He pulled off her white hooded coat, covered with snow, off her shoulders and dropped it to the floor. “It’s important.”
Josie gave him a teasing, slow-rising smile. “Hmm. Knowing you…” She tilted her head, pretending to consider, then lifted an eyebrow. “Does that something involve a bed?”
“Ah. You know me well,” he answered with a wicked grin. “But no.” Growing more serious, he gently used the pads of his thumbs to wipe away the snowflakes from her creamy skin, and those tangled in her eyelashes. Looking down into h
er eyes, he saw eternity in those caramel-and-honey-colored depths. And he whispered the words in his heart. “I love you, Josie.”
Her lips parted in shock. Tears filled her eyes as a sob escaped her. “You love me?”
He cupped her cheek. “Will you stay with me and be my wife?” He gave her a crooked, cocky smile, even as his hands trembled. “Not just now, but forever?”
“Forever,” she breathed. A single tear streamed down her cheek. “Yes,” she choked out. She threw her arms around him. “Oh, yes!”
He pulled back from her embrace to look down at her. “But there’s just one thing.” He looked down at her. “If you stay with me as my wife—you must never see Bree again.”
“What?” She wiped her eyes with an awkward laugh. “What are you talking about?”
“I saw your sister with my brother at the ball. Laughing. Kissing. They are together now.” He set his jaw. “So you must choose. Them…” He tucked back a long tendril of her hair and said in a low voice, “Or me.”
Josie blinked fast. “Maybe if we all just talked together, we could…”
“No,” he cut her off.
Josie stared at him, her brown eyes glittering. She swallowed, then whispered, “You can’t ask this of me.”
“I must.” He pulled her into his arms. His hands moved to her back, getting tangled in her lustrous, damp brown hair. He kissed her temple, her cheek, her lips. “Choose me, Josie,” he whispered against her skin. “Stay with me.”
She trembled in his arms, uncertain. Knowing he’d asked her the deepest sacrifice of her life, he persuaded her in the only way he could. He lowered his mouth to hers, kissing her with his soul on his lips, holding nothing back. He kissed her with every bit of love and longing and passion in his heart, until even Kasimir was dizzy as the world seemed to spin around their embrace.
“Let me show you the world,” he whispered. “Every day can be more exciting than the last. Choose me.”